Did 7-Up Really Contain a Bipolar Medicine?

The popular soda 7-UP used to contain lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug used today to treat people with bipolar disorder. Originally called "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda," the soft drink was marketed in the late-19th and early-20th centuries as a health drink due to containing lithium. 7-UP was not the only soft drink to have its original formula contain a drug. Coca-Cola used to include coca leaves - thus containing small amounts of cocaine - and marketed to cure nausea, headaches, and morphine addiction. By 1950, 31 years after 7-UP was created, lithium had to be taken out of the formula when research showed that the drug had potentially dangerous side effects.

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